I've not been to the UK for a long time - a brief transit at Heathrow; a few days in Salisbury three years ago and before that, twenty four hours in London about six years back. Really, for better than thirty five years, I have hardly set foot in the country where I was born.
So, all I know about Today's England is what I see on Facebook, or the TV, or from what people tell me. I say England, because I'm from there, born in Norfolk many years ago, and because things seem to be a little different in the rest of the UK (or, perhaps not).
The issue, of course, is racism. Following the Brexit, the good people of England have apparently decided on embracing racism and racial hatred. Is this true?
Can it be true?
I see so many articles and clips in the Media - here's one just now - showing a kind of horrific hatred for foreigners coming from the place where I was born.
My Godfather was a racist. He hated Jews and Blacks. He was briefly a Conservative MP before breaking away to form the National Front in the 'fifties. He told my Dad once 'We don't want the upper classes, or the educated - they like to ask questions and worry the subject. We want to speak for the little people, the workers, the mob'.
Brexit - from the point of view of any ex-pat (with a modicum of intelligence) - is bad. At least for those of us who live in Europe. If this racism, apparently encouraged and abetted by those who should know better, is going to direct policy on the European Union, then we are in for a tough time.
But, to get back to my question - has racism, jingoism and nationalism really taken hold in England?
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